1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a display device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A display device is useful in various electronic products. For example, a device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) is used in various products including a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an electronic game console, a monitor and a TV.
Generally, a display device has a display panel displaying an image. In addition, most of the display devices include a backward diode equipped on a bottom surface of the display panel. For example, an LCD device includes a back light unit (BLU) as a backward diode.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional diagram showing a display device, particularly, an LCD device, according to conventional art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the LCD device has an LCD panel 10 displaying an image. Generally, the LCD panel 10 is not self-emissive, and thus realizes an image by receiving light from an external environment. Accordingly, a backlight unit 20 is equipped as a backward diode on a bottom surface of the LCD panel 10.
The backlight unit 20 includes, for example, a light source 22 such as a light emitting diode (LED), a light guide plate 24 inducing light emitted from the light source 22 to the LCD panel 10 and converting a point light source generated from the light source 22 to a surface light source, and a diffuser sheet 26 diffusing light emitted from the light guide plate 24.
In addition, the LCD panel 10 has a liquid crystal cell layer 12 composed of liquid crystals changed in light transmittance due to application of an electric signal. The LCD panel 10 transmits or blocks light by changing or maintaining a polarizing direction of linearly polarized light transmitted by the liquid crystals according to the arrangement of liquid crystals. To this end, the LCD panel 10 has an upper polarizing plate 14 formed on the liquid crystal cell layer 12 and a lower polarizing plate 16 formed under the liquid crystal cell layer 12.
In addition, the conventional display device including the LCD device includes a molding frame 30 for assembling component members. As shown in FIG. 1, a backlight unit 20 is stacked on a bottom surface of the LCD panel 10, and then assembled and fixed by the molding frame 30 formed of a resin.
For example, related techniques are disclosed in Korean Patent Nos. 10-0824866, 10-0876236, 10-0876248 and 10-1178577.
However, the display device according to the conventional art has a bezel B as shown in FIG. 1 due to the use of the molding frame 30 as described above, and an area of the bezel B is also large. Due to such a bezel B, a display on which an actual image is shown becomes smaller than a surface area of the LCD panel 10.
In addition, the display device according to the conventional art may have problems in handling and assembly of the backward diode, that is, the backlight unit 20. For example, an assembling process using the molding frame 30 by inserting and fixing an optical member such as the light guide plate 24 or the diffuser sheet 26 to the molding frame 30 and stacking these components on a bottom surface of the LCD panel 10 may take too much time, and the optical members 24 and 26 may be damaged. Moreover, according to the assembly through the molding frame 30, a light leakage phenomenon may occur due to decreased sealability. Such a problem may bring an increase in costs and a decrease in yield of the display device, and have a bad influence on performance.